UPDATE: Control Rod Issue Shut Down 1 Indian Point Reactor

A reported power loss to several control rods forced the Unit 2 reactor at the Indian Point Nuclear Facility to shut down Saturday evening.

Officials do not believe the control rod issue was related to the massive power outage across the Hudson River last night.

According to parent compay Entergy:

Control room operators safely shut down Indian Point’s unit 2 power plant around 5:30 p.m. today after they observed indication of a power loss to several control rods.

By design, if power to control rods is lost, the rods automatically insert into the nuclear fuel core to safely shut down the reactor and power plant.

The cause of the loss of power to the control rods is being investigated.

All equipment at unit 2 operated as designed and the plant safely shutdown following the operator action.

Unit 3 was unaffected by the unit 2 shutdown and continues operating at full power. Unit 2 was online for 627 days prior to tonight’s shutdown.

Indian Point Energy Center, in Buchanan, N.Y., is home to two operating nuclear power plants, unit 2 and unit 3, which generate approximately 2000 megawatts of electricity for homes, business and public facilities in New York City and Westchester County.

There was no radioactivity released to the environment.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is aggressively working to close Indian Point down, also released a statement:

“I have directed the Department of Public Service to investigate and monitor the situation and a team is currently en route to Indian Point to begin its work,” the statement said.

SEE: O&R Restores Power to 52,000 Customers

Patch Editor Lanning Taliaferro contributed to this report.